Friends of Shields tell us they want to remember the fond times they shared together in hopes of erasing the gory details of his murder.

"He was such a good friend, I loved him," Mathu Potts told News 2 as he tried to hold back tears.

"There's a lot of people who are hurting right now because Daniel was so good to everyone I just can't believe it."

30-year-old Daniel Shields was one of his best friends.

"I can't hear his laugh and his quirky little comments that he would make, and you know it's scary...what happened to him. It really is," state Potts.

Shields was a beloved barback at the gay bar Trax in South Nashville.

"He may have been nice to the wrong person this time and they took advantage of the situation and he paid for it."

Shields was last seen leaving Trax around 9:30 p.m., surveillance video from inside the bar is now in the hands of metro police.

"They've got to find this killer."

Police say they found Shields' decomposed body a week later inside his bloody apartment.

"This person had to be a monster, a total monster," stated Potts.

As friends try to heal from the heartache of the brutal murder, Sunday they will honor the life of their friend that was cut short.

"We will trade stories and share times that we've had with him and bring that joy back to our lives and leave his memory as something positive and hopefully erase some of this gory detail of his murder."

Trax will host a cookout at 3 p.m. and vigil at 6 p.m. Sunday in Shields' memory.

The Trailblazer believed to have been taken from his home was recovered at the Knights Inn on Bell Road.